World of LoudCraft
by Rakanadyo
Summary: Lincoln Loud has always liked video games, but rarely had one he could play with other people. But when he discovers the Realm of EverCraft, he finds an amazing fantasy world where he never needs to be alone! And who knows, maybe some of Lincoln's real-world companions will join him in Nazorroth as well!
1. I

_**Chapter I: The Beginning**_

* * *

"In the Loud House, everybody has their own different interests."

A young boy with white hair spoke, as if addressing an audience that wasn't there in his small bedroom.

"My oldest sister Lori likes gossiping and socializing, Leni likes clothes and fashion, Luna likes music, Luan likes comedy, Ly-"

Suddenly, his door opened, and a buck-toothed girl with braces and a brown ponytail stuck her head in.

"Hey, Linc! What do you call a-Oh, are you doing your 'talk to the folks watching/reading your adventures' thing again?"

Lincoln blushed for a moment, seeming embarassed. "Luan, you know it helps me think!"

Luan opened the door all the way and turned to the same wall Lincoln was previously facing.

"Hello, people beyond Lincoln's fourth wall! Hope you all enjoy the story! I know he can be slow about it, but I like to think he gets a little better each time... sometimes."

"LUAN!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I'll come back in another chapter."

With that, Luan giggled and ran out the door.

Lincoln sighed. "As I was saying, everyone in my family has a lot of different interests, and it's not too often that they align. One of MY favorite hobbies is video games, but rarely do my sisters enjoy playing them with me, and Clyde and Ronnie Anne aren't always available... The games are fun, but sometimes it's lonely to just play by myself."

"...That is, until I discovered THIS!" Lincoln excitedly pulled out a box. On it was a picture of an elven woman, with the words "REALM OF EVERCRAFT" at the top.

"It's called a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, but it's a lot easier to say MMO. There's ALWAYS people online, so you never have to worry about being too lonely. I can't wait to try it!"

Lincoln opened up his laptop and inserted the disc. Fantasy-style music began playing as the program opened and began installing the game.

"Estimated time... 1 hour!? Man, that'll feel like an eternity!"

So, Lincoln resigned himself to keeping entertained for an hour. He tried calling Clyde on the walky-talky, but there was no response right now. He tried reading an Ace Savvy book, and he got to a thrilling battle with Go Fish when...

"Linc?... Lincoln?..."

"Wake up, dude!"

Lincoln jumped up to see his sister Luna standing at this bedside.

"Wha-? What is it?"

Luna couldn't help but laugh. "It's alright, dude. We just haven't heard from ya in a couple hours, so I wanted to check on you. But you just fell asleep, I guess."

"I guess I did. Thanks, Lun-Wait, a couple of hours? It must be done, then!"

Almost completely forgetting Luna's existence, Lincoln rushed to grab his laptop off the drawer. Sure enough, the bar had filled to 100%, and it was asking if Lincoln wished to launch the game, to which he obviously said yes.

Lincoln could barely contain his excitement when the game opened up. The words "Realm of Evercraft" appeared on the screen as powerful music began playing, and then it took him to a character creation screen.

"So, what is all that?" Luna asked, sitting on the bed beside her brother.

"It's a new game I got. I can create my character, and it'll put me in a world where thousands of other people are playing, too!"

"Thousands? Far out, man! So, what kind of dude you gonna play?"

Lincoln thought. There were a lot of options to pick from. The game had a bunch of "races" you could play, things like humans, elves, dwarves, and things like that. And then you could pick a "class", things like warriors, wizards, assassins, and that kind of stuff.

Lincoln sifted through the options, with Luna watching and pointing out things she thought were "rad". Eventually, he settled on a Moon Elf Huntsman. His character was fairly tall and slender, with light purple skin, glowing silver eyes, and long, pointed ears. He wore some basic leather armor, and had white hair like Lincoln himself, although it was long and tied back in a ponytail. Next to the elf was a tiger-like cat with black fur and white stripes.

"Pretty sick, dude!" Luna said, approving of Lincoln's character. "So, what's a Huntsman do exactly?"

"Well, it says here that they can befriend animals to fight with them, and they can learn to master bows and crossbows. They can also call wild animals to help them out when they need to."

"Wow, that sounds like Lana's dream come true." Luna said. "I kinda liked the look of those Bards, myself."

"You know, you could always get the game too and play with me if you wanted, Luna. Me as a Huntsman and you as a Bard, we'd make a great team."

Luna thought for a moment. Video games aren't really her thing, besides occasionally Guitar Legend and Parapster the Rap Star. But...

"I might just consider it, bro. I just might... But for now, I gotta go practice for my next gig. Catch ya later!"

Luna ruffled her brother's hair affectionally before she hopped up and left the room, closing the door behind her. As she did, Lincoln stared at a little bar at the bottom of the screen that said "Character Name".

"Man, I always suck at thinking of these... Maybe I should just have the name give me one..."

Clicking the button that said "Random", Lincoln watched a name appear in the bar.

"Barelor Shadowfall? I kinda like the sound of that! Ok then, Barelor it is!"

Lincoln clicked the "Create" button, and waited for his journey to begin.

* * *

 _ **Hiya folks! It's me, that guy again. I've been hit with a pretty lame case of writer's block when it came to the next Loud Legends story. Combine that with the fact that I'm already a slow writer, and well, you know. But I thought of this concept a while back, and decided that maybe I should look into this as well. If anyone out there particularly likes my other story, don't worry, I'm not giving up on it. At worst, consider it on hiatus.**_

 _ **I hope you guys will like this story, though. I've been big into both EverQuest and World of Warcraft in my lifetime, so I liked the idea of mixing that into my favorite cartoon. Lincoln's character, Barelor, is shamelessly named after and based on my own WoW character.**_

 _ **But anyway, we'll see Barelor's adventure begin next chapter. And who knows, maybe he'll find himself some friends, too. After all, an MMO is best enjoyed with other people.**_


	2. II

_**Chapter II: Tutorials**_

* * *

A loading screen. Lincoln hated these. In a home with possibly as many as 12 people accessing the Internet at once, they could take forever. And Lincoln was REALLY anxious to finally begin playing.

But then, excitement. The loading screen faded to black. A beautiful forest appeared on the screen, and a woman's voice began to speak. The voice was soft and gentle, one that could lull a man to sleep if it so chose.

 _"You are a Moon Elf. Ancient guardians of the world of Nazorroth, the Moon Elves can call upon the forces of nature and even the moon itself to protect what they hold dear. While generally peaceful and solitary, they are no strangers for war, having fought demons, undead, Deep Ones, and many other threats for thousands of years. It would seem that war is once again on the horizon, and you are among the first in the newest generation of fighters to defend your home."_

As the narrator went silent, the camera panned down to Barelor, Lincoln's character. Beside him stood his noble pet tiger. Lincoln turned his character slowly, admiring the forest he was in. The trees were tall and green, fauna like deer and bears could be seen wandering in the distance, and the night sky was full of stars, surrounding a large silver moon. Behind him was a small cottage, made from the same wood as the nearby trees, and didn't clash with the scenery. Lincoln couldn't think of any time he had seen such a lovely scene of nature in real life, but he knew that the game had captured it perfectly.

He was interuppted when another Moon Elf ran up to him. An NPC, Lincoln could tell by how scripted his movement was.

 _"Barelor! It is good to see you, my friend!"_ he spoke. His words did have voice acting, but he did not say the name "Barelor", of course. They could never get somebody to record every single possible name.

 _"It would seem you're ready for your final tests of Huntsman training? Wonderful, we'll begin right away!"_

At this point, an exclamation point icon appeared above him. The narrator's voice spoke once again.

 _"Click on Valen Moonlance to see his quest."_

"Alright then." Lincoln said to himself as he did so.

As he did, a box opened up, with more dialogue from Valen.

 _"I know, you're ready to go out there and take on the world. But every hero has a slow start before they get to the good stuff. For now, I want you to go and do some practice in the target range. I'll be right behind you to tell you what to do."_

"Target range?" Lincoln moaned. It was like the NPC read his mind. "I didn't buy this game to shoot at dummies, I wanna go fight dragons or something!"

But Lincoln obeyed. He moved Barelor to the target range, and Valen began to speak again.

 _"Ok, first thing's first, I want you to shoot that target over there a few times, just so I know you can use that bow of yours without losing an eye!"_

The narrator again, _"Right click on a hostile target or target dummy to attack."_

Lincoln obeyed. Barelor drew his bow, and began firing arrows at the target. With each hit, a small number appeared above the target, showing the damage it did. After shooting 5 times, he was stopped automatically as Valen began speaking.

 _"Good, good! You know how to do basic shots, but have you learned to shoot a Focus Arrow yet? Let me see if you can do it!"_

Focus Arrow? Lincoln looked around, and at a bar at the bottom of his screen, he saw a glowing icon that resembled an archer aiming his bow.

 _"Click on the Focus Arrow icon, or press the 1 key to use the ability."_ the narrator chimed in again.

Lincoln pressed the button, and... nothing happened. He pressed it again, and nothing.

"What the heck? Did I bust my keyboard or something?"

As his frustration grew, he saw Valen walk up to Barelor.

 _"Oh, it seems you've run out of ammo. Sorry about that! Here, you can have my quiver."_

Valen reached his hand out, and a quiver appeared on Barelor's back, filled with arrows. A message appeared in the chatbox saying "Equipped Valen's Quiver, filled with 20 Wooden Arrows".

Lincoln pressed the 1 key again, and sure enough, Barelor drew back his bow. A meter at the bottom took about a second and a half to charge, but then he fired. The shot did more damage than the normal attacks, making up for the charge time.

 _"Great form! You might even be a better archer than me! You go ahead and keep that quiver and arrows, I've got more. Now, let's move over here."_

Valen and Barelor moved forward, and stopped next to a humanoid wooden dummy.

 _"Huntsmen are capable fighters, but they don't battle alone. Your companion there will be very helpful to you. Say, have you given him a name yet?"_

Sure enough, a box popped up asking Lincoln to name his tiger.

"Gah, I'm not good at thinking up good names. What would work for a tiger... Tony? Nah. Tigger? That's just tiger with another G, not very creative... Hobbes? No, too philosophical..."

At that moment, Lincoln's bedroom door creaked open, and Cliff the cat walked in. He mewed to himself, looked around for a moment, and then turned around and left.

"Well, that was weird." Lincoln thought. "Although, now that I think of it, why not have a familiar name hanging out with me in the game?"

And thus Lincoln's tiger was named Cliff.

 _"A fine name for a fine companion! Now, when you enter combat, you will want Cliff to join you. In most cases, he will join you when you begin to attack an enemy, but for now, just order Cliff to attack the target dummy alone."_

Lincoln waited for the woman's voice again, and sure enough.

 _"Press C, and then press 1 to order your pet to attack a target enemy."_

Lincoln followed the instructions, and as expected, Cliff the tiger ran forward and began attacking the target dummy.

Valen clapped. _"Well done, indeed. Cliff is quite ferocious, we may have to replace that target dummy! I'm fully convinced of your skills, now. I think it's time you begin doing some REAL work, Huntsman Barelor!"_

Lincoln felt proud of himself, although this was all fairly basic. A question mark appeared above Valen Moonlance's head, and Lincoln knew before any instruction was given to click on him, and the quest was completed.

Barelor went up to level 2! Barelor learned Kill Command!

Valen had another quest, and Lincoln clicked to look at it.

 _"Now that you've proven yourself, I have a task for you. The nearby town of Oakshire has been having issues with ferocious animals and gnoll sightings. I want you to join your fellow heroes and see if you can't help the poor folk of that village out! And make good use of Kill Command. That will order Cliff or any other pet you tame to unleash a brutal attack on your opponent! Ashal'inu, Barelor!"_ (Ashal'inu translates to "good journeys" in Common/English, and is used as a traditional farewell.)

Finally, this is what Lincoln wanted! Going out to fight monsters, and meeting other players! And according to the map, Oakshire was only just out of his current sight, so it should take no time to get there. Now, to finally begin the jou-

"GIRLS! LINCOLN! DINNER TIME!" a grown man's voice yelled from downstairs. Lincoln knew it to be his father's.

"Aww man!" Lincoln sighed. He completely forgot the time.

"Well, I guess me and Barelor start our adventure tomorrow, then." he said sadly as he walked Barelor into the cottage (just in case bears can attack him when he's offline or something) and exited the game. He closed his laptop and left the room, daydreaming about his mighty Huntsman and Cliff the tiger slaying dragons and hanging out with friends from many different species.

* * *

 _ **Sorry if this chapter feels rather slow, and that it doesn't focus on Lincoln as much as it does on the game. But I felt it would've been weird to skip over Lincoln learning the basics. But next time, there should be a bit more excitement. Here's what someone else has been up to, though.**_

* * *

After dinner, when the Louds went around to finish their days' work before getting ready for bed, Luna went into her room and opened up her own laptop. She looked aorund on the web a bit, before googling the words "Realm of EverCraft", and hoping she'd remembered it right.

She looked at the website, showing all the different characters that can be made, talking about adventures and monster fighting, yadda yadda, and Luna hovered her mouse over the "Buy the game now!" button.

This wasn't her kind of thing, but she thought about how Lincoln always made time to listen to her music, to help her come up with new songs, and more. She owed it to him to take an interest in one of his hobbies, right? Besides, hanging out with the L-Man in a fantasy world could be pretty cool.

The mouse was clicked, and another adventure began.


	3. III

_**Chapter III: Oakshire**_

* * *

The time is about 3:20 PM. Lincoln is impatiently waiting outside of the elementary school with Lucy, Lola, and Lana. The girls are sitting on a bench a few feet from the driveway, while Lincoln paces back and forth in front of them.

"Come on, come on, hurry up, Lori!" he mumbles to himself. They were waiting for Lori and the five oldest girls to show up from the middle and high school building to pick them up.

The girls watch him with confused expressions.

"Why are you in such a big rush, Lincoln?" Lola interrupted him.

"I wanna get home so I can play my game!"

Lola scoffed. "What kind of game is SO important that you need to get to it as soon as possible?"

"It's called Realm of EverCraft, and I want to get back so I have plenty of time to play before dinner! Besides, I gotta go defend Oakshire, and I don't know if my tiger needs fed or something like that, and-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Lana said aloud as she jumped off the bench. "A tiger? You have a pet tiger in that game?"

"Well, yeah. I named him Cliff, like our cat. He's gonna help me fight monsters and stuff."

"Oh, so it's like Bokeymon!? I LOVE those games!"

"Well, no, it's not quite like tha-"

"Can I watch you play it? Pretty please? Pretty please, Lincoln?" Lana said, doing her best impression of Charles' puppy-dog eyes.

And of course, it worked. Lincoln could never resist a request from his sisters when they pulled that. "Ok, Lana. I guess it won't hurt to let you watch a bit."

"Yay!" the girl yelled. Behind her, her twin sister got up with a huff and put her hands on her hips menacingly.

"Hey, if Lana gets to watch, I wanna watch, too!" Lola yelled. Although she wasn't interested in the game, so much as she was making sure Lana didn't get to do something fun with Lincoln and she didn't.

"I don't know, Lola, it really isn't your kind of thing. You don't really like video games at all, and this one is about fighting monsters, aaaaand you're doing the puppy-dog eyes too, aren't you?"

Sure enough, Lola was. Years of using it to get adults and older siblings alike to do her bidding allowed her to master the art.

"Fine, I guess you can watch, too."

"Yay!" Lola shouted, jumping up and down.

"Lori's pulling in."

"GAAAAH!" the twins and their brother yelled, jumping back. Lucy just stood there with a blank expression, as usual.

"Lucy, don't pop up out of nowhere like that!" Lola yelled.

"Siiigh... I was sitting next to you guys the whole time."

"Oh, uhh, right... Sorry..."

But sure enough, Vanzilla drove up and stopped in front of them. Lori was driving, of course, with Luna in the front seat, and Leni and Luan in the first row, and Lynn grinning to Lincoln, since she took the "Sweet Spot" in the second row, which Lincoln usually got since she had practice for one of her sports most days.

The four younger Louds opened the doors and piled in, with Lincoln sitting next to Lynn, who was now sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Once everyone was in, Lincoln peeked his head forward. "Hey, Lori? Can we be quick about picking up Lisa? I wanna get home fast today."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Normally, I'd tell you to never give me orders in the car, but Lisa's being picked up by a professor to give a lecture at Royal Woods U, so we're heading right home anyway."

"Oh, that's even better. Thanks, Lori!"

"I literally didn't do anything, but anytime, I guess." she said as she bolted from the school parking lot.

 ** _A bit later..._**

When the Louds got home, Lincoln practically kicked the door open and ran inside once Lori stopped the car. A moment later, Lola and Lana were jumping out to follow him.

"Oh, are we racing? I wanna win!" Leni yelled as she ran out as fast as she could.

Lori rolled her eyes again and began grumbling. "What is _with_ Lincoln today? It's like he literally lost his mind."

"He's just excited to play this rockin' new game he's got." Luna replied.

Lori's eyes lit up for a moment. "Oh, is it a new fighting game? I've been waiting for him to get Unjustified 2!" The other girls looked at her with confusion. "...I mean, yeah, more video games, who cares?"

"Nah, it's some kind of online thing. You make your own dudes, and you walk around with other people, and kill things and stuff, you know."

"Realm of EverCraft."

The girls looked back at Lynn, who was wiping dirt off of her shoes in the car (a bad habit that Lori despised).

"...Yeah, that's it."

"How did you know that, Lynn?" Lucy said as she poked her head forward.

Lynn jumped, having forgotten Lucy's presence in the back row.

"Oh! Uhh... I know a couple girls on my soccer team who play that. They talk about it all the freakin' time, it must've been ingrained into my head."

"Uh huh..." Luna said. "Well, dudettes, we should be walkin' through the front door, too."

 ** _Meanwhile, inside._**

"Come on, Lincoln, start the game already!"

Lincoln was sitting on his bed with his laptop. Lola and Lana were sitting on either side, trying to get a good view of the screen.

"It's gotta load first, Lola. It takes a minute."

After a moment, the game loaded, and the screen showed up with Barelor sitting where Lincoln had left him. Cliff the tiger was lying next to him.

"Let me see the tiger, let me see the tiger!" Lana yelled out.

Lincoln fumbled with his mouse for a bit, figuring out how to control the camera angle. He then moved it to an angle where Cliff could be seen. He was laying there, watching his master, and let out a yawn.

"Aww, he's so cool! I want one of those!"

Lincoln smiled. "Maybe you can get the game one day, too. Christmas isn't too far away, you know, so you could always put it on your list."

Lola nudged Lincoln's shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, that's cool and all, but when are you gonna go kill something!?"

"Oh, I should probably go where that guy said to go. They'll probably want me to fight some monsters there."

Barelor moved from the cottage, Cliff getting up and running behind him. Lincoln noticed an arrow directing him to Oakshire, and he began following it. A couple minutes later, he came up to a small town in the forest, with wooden buildings similar to the cottage he just left.

What stood out, though, were that there were plenty of other players here, too. Lincoln saw other moon elves running around, and a few characters of other races. Lola and Lana's eyes seemed drawn to one that almost resembled a plant or tree person.

 _"What's up, dude?"_ a text bubble showed up over a half-elf that was waving at Barelor. A fellow player, considering the more modern slang.

"Oh, somebody said hi to me. I should probably answer..."

Lincoln looked down to his keyboard, and typed out-

 _"Hello."_ Barelor said, waving back to the half-elf.

"Hey, Lincoln, what's it mean when a guy has an exclamation point on his head?" Lana chimed in.

"That means they have a quest I can do." Lincoln responded as he saw the person in question and ran over to them.

 _"Hello there, you must be the new Huntsman that Valen was training, hmm? It's good you are here. Gnolls have begun attacking the town again, which is very unusual. Do you think you could go take care of some of them? They should be easy enough to slay, but do be careful!"_

"Finally, I get to have some fun!" Lincoln said, just as excited as his younger sisters.

Barelor ran out of the town, into a darker part of the woods. Looking around, he saw some animals running around. Taking notice of a circle of tents, he ran towards it, and dramatic music began to play.

"Uhh, what does all that mean?" Lana asked.

"I'm not sure, that's never happened befo-Oh!"

Lincoln was interrupted when he noticed something approaching him in the game. It was an angry looking creature, like a grey hyena or something running at him on two legs. It had a mace in it's hand, and above it were the words _"a gnoll footman"_

"It's a monster!" Lincoln said as it ran towards him.

"Well, kill it before he kills you, Lincoln!" Lola yelled.

"Right." Lincoln clicked on the gnoll, and Barelor drew his bow and opened fire. Cliff also leapt forward, biting the gnoll.

In the top of the screen, the gnoll's health bar went down as Barelor and Cliff attacked. The creature began hitting Cliff with his mace, hurting the cat as well. The gnoll would let out a howl when it took damage, and Cliff a small roar.

"Get him, Cliff!" Lana cheered.

The gnoll's health was now down low, and Lincoln remembered his abilities. Pressing 2, Cliff suddenly lunged forward, biting the gnoll in the head.

 _"YEEURGH!"_ it cried out, falling over dead. The dramatic battle music died down.

"Yay, you did it!" Lana and Lola both said.

Cliff ran back to Barelor as he sheathed his bow. The narrator's voice from earlier spoke again.

 _"Remember to click on the corpse of a fallen enemy to take it's loot."_

Barelor ran over to the gnoll's body and did so, and a small window popped up.

 _"Received 4 copper coins, received 1 gnoll tooth."_

"Well, that wasn't too hard." Lincoln said. "I think I'm gonna like this game."

"Uh, do you know how to make Cliff feel better? His health is low." Lana said, pointing out Cliff's health bar that was just below half.

"It should fill back up in a few seconds, since the fight is done." Lincoln turned to her and said.

Suddenly, the music was playing again.

Lola nudged her brother again. "Uhh, Lincoln?"

"What? Oh..."

From the gnoll camp, about 4 or 5 more gnoll footmen and scouts were running toward Barelor. In the chat box, a message Lincoln didn't notice before said _"the gnoll footman calls for it's packmates as it dies."_

"This can't be good..." Lincoln said, as footmen raised their maces and scouts drew their bows.


	4. IV

_**Chapter IV: The Bard**_

* * *

 _"You are a Half-Elf. Half-elves, for a long time, were loathed by both races that birthed them. But as tensions died between human and moon elf society, they grew to be accepted, and then even welcomed by their parent races. They enjoy the longevity, fair features, and wisdom of their elven ancestors, while still retaining the ingenuity and cunning of the humans."_

* * *

A young girl was walking through the forest. Her brown hair in a short pixie cut, her face sporting many freckles, and her purple outfit helped her to stand out among the crowd.

Unlike Luna Loud, though, this girl had pointed ears, golden yellow eyes, and a medieval lute strapped to her back.

The half-elf bard Arwena Fairsong stood in Oakshire, examining the beautiful atmosphere . For a video game, it was actually pretty cool.

"Alright, now that I finished that weird tutorial, I should figure out where I can go to meet up with Lincoln."

As she looked around, a purple elf with white hair ran up and stopped.

"Oh, that guy might be him!" Luna said. She went down to her keyboard and typed out.

 _"What's up, dude?"_ Arwena said as she waved.

The guy stood there for a moment, before saying:

 _"Hello."_ and then walking off.

"Hey, wait!" Luna said to herself, moving to follow him.

She had wanted to find Lincoln in the game to catch him by surprise. Just going to his room and telling him she got the game wouldn't be as much fun.

Ignoring the questgiver, Arwena went into the forest, where she last saw that elf going. Luna found herself distracted by the atmosphere again.

"Man, what a wonderful world. I never knew video games could be so pretty..."

Her thoughts were interrupted by some odd sounds. Something like a gang of dogs or hyenas snarling, along with the grunts and groans of a man being hit.

Luna turned Arwena around, looking for what that sound might be coming from. Behind a tree, she found a bunch of dog-men things... guh-nolls or something? And they were all beating something up.

But it wasn't just any somebody, it was that elf from before! He was trying to fight them back with his bow, keeping them away from a tiger that was laying unconcious behind him.

"Oh man! Who let the dogs out?" Luna thought to herself. "Wait, what button was that thing the dude taught me? Healing Hymn?"

 _ **In Lincoln's room...**_

"Cliff, no!"

Lana found herself yelling after the virtual tiger was knocked out by the gnolls. Barelor managed to kill one of them, but since Cliff was already weak, the rest of the herd took him out.

 _"Your pet is in critical condition, protect him before he dies!"_ a message that popped up said.

Feeling he had no choice, Barelor had charged in to fight in a melee. He began swatting at a gnoll with his bow, which got their attention. He was hurting one, but not faster than all of them were hurting him.

"Crap, I'm done for!" Lincoln grumbled to himself. Lana had looked away entirely, not able to stand seeing even a fake animal in a video game hurt.

"Uhh, Lincoln? What's will the music notes?" Lola chimed in.

Lincoln looked around, seeing nothing but angry gnolls and forest scenery. "What music notes?"

"Those ones, right there!" Lola pointed to the bottom of the screen. Sure enough, although they faded as soon as they appeared, music notes were floating around.

Drawn in by the confusion, Lana turned and look back at the screen again. "Lincoln, look! Cliff is all better!"

Sure enough, Cliff was back on his feet. Although he still looked quite beaten and worn out, he was fighting again.

"It's not just that..." Lincoln said. "His health is going back up! Mine is too!"

Cliff had already killed the gnoll Barelor had been fighting with his bow, and turned to attack the next one. All the gnolls went back to fighting Cliff, but his health remained stable, healing back about as fast as it was damaged.

Barelor fell back so that he could begin shooting with his bow again. As he did, Lincoln noticed the music notes again, having forgotten them in the excitement. He now saw the source: that half-elf player from before was standing there, playing an instrument that was shooting out waves of magic in the form of music notes.

"Wow, that girl's so good you can _see_ her tunes!" Lana said.

"She's a bard. They're magicians who learn how to channel their magic through their instruments." Lincoln replied as he shot one gnoll with a Focus Arrow, and gave Cliff a Kill Command on another, taking them both out at nearly the same time.

One gnoll remained. It was weakened and under attack by Cliff, so it began to run away from the fight. Barelor prepared to fire on it when...

 _"Out of ammo!"_ Barelor's voice said.

"Aww man, he's gonna get away!" Lola said sadly.

Just then, the bard stopped playing her melody. Moving forward, she plucked her lute again, sending out a small wave of music that struck the gnoll, and killed it.

"Wow..." Lincoln said to himself, amazed. "That girl is awesome!"

Barelor ran to the closest gnoll, and clicked it to obtain his loot.

 _"From 3 gnoll footmen and 2 gnoll scouts, received: 1 silver coin, 30 copper coins, 1 tarnished dagger!"_

"Oh, you can loot from all of them at once? That's pretty convenient."

"Lincoln!" Lola said, bonking her brother on the head.

"Yowch! What is it, Lola?"

The young girl pointed to the bard on the screen, who was standing there and watching Barelor. "You should always thank a lady when she helps you, brother."

"Yeah, you're right, Lola."

Lincoln clicked on the girl. "Arwena Fairsong? That's a pretty name." Lola said as he did.

 _"Thanks."_ Barelor said. He gave the half-elf girl a thumbs up.

The bard stood there unmoving. Lincoln considered walking away when he heard a familiar sound on his computer.

"Oh, someone's calling me on voice chat!" Lincoln said as he moved from the game window for a moment to check.

"MsSwagger02? Oh, Luna's calling! I wonder why?" Lincoln answered the call.

 _"Hey-ey-ey, what's going on?"_ Luna's voice came in through the computer.

"Hi, Luna!" Lincoln said.

"Hi, Luna!" the twins also said, almost in unison.

 _"Oh, what's up, dudettes! Didn't know you were there too! Hey Linc, what's the name of your dude in that game?"_

"My 'dude'? Oh! His name is Barelor Shadowfall. Why do you ask?"

 _"That's what I thought! Check this out, bro!"_

Lincoln listened, but Luna didn't say anything else. But before he spoke up to ask about it, he looked at the game screen, and saw Arwena the bard jumping around while playing her lute like an electric guitar. Doing that, she almost reminded Lincoln of...

"Wait..." Lincoln said. "Luna... Are you Arwena Fairsong?"

 _"Yup! That's me!"_

The twins both gasped in surprise. Lincoln was stunned for a moment, but then smiled.

"You got the game, too? How come? Why didn't you tell me?"

 _"I wanted it to be a surprise, bro. I know you really like these games, and I figured maybe it wouldn't hurt to check one out. Something fun we can do together, ya know? I mean, if you want to."_

"Are you kidding? Playing with other people is the whole reason I got the game. Who better than one of my sisters?"

 _"Rockin!"_

Lincoln remembered reading online about inviting and being invited to groups so you could work together in the game world. Lincoln looked for the option, and found the button that said "Invite Arwena to Group."

"Ok, Luna, I sent you a thing so we can work together in the game."

After a moment, a message appeared that the invite was accepted, and Arwena Fairsong joined the group.

 _"Alright! Let's go kick some as-I mean butt, bro!"_ Luna remembered the twins were there and corrected herself.

"Yeah! ...Although I need to go get some more arrows first."

* * *

 _ **So, now we've got two of the Loud clan inside the world of Nazorroth. What kind of adventures shall they have together? Will anyone else join them? How overpowered are bards in this game? Perhaps we shall see as time goes on. This is still only the beginning.**_

* * *

"Well, we'll let you and Luna play, Linc. I got a tea party to attend, and Lana's got some mud to stuff down her pants or something." Lola said.

"Heh, I could use a good mud-butt right now." Lana said to herself.

"Ok. You two have fun!" Lincoln said as they walked out the door, focused on his game.

The two girls went to their room, and sat on their beds. Almost as if reflecting the other's movements, they both grabbed a piece of paper from their nightstands, and started writing on them.

Lana finished writing first, though, and looked up at Lola. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

Lola finished a moment later. "If you did what I think you did, then yeah." she said as she put the piece of paper back on her nightstand.

Lola's paper was full of elegant writing with as many curls as one could fit into each letter. Lana's writings were in the form of harsh, jagged lines drawn quickly, but still perfectly readable. The top of each said "Christmas List." The newest addition to each list was "Laptop" and "Realm of EverCraft."


	5. V

_**Chapter V. Boss Battle**_

* * *

Luna sat on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed, playing the game on her computer. Hearing the door open, she saw her sister and roommate Luan walk in, wearing a ridiculous outfit from her Funny Business wardrobe she was practicing a routine in.

"Hey, I told ya I'd be back!" she said.

"You told me what, Lu?" Luna asked.

"Oh, nothing, I wasn't talkin' to you, sis." Luan walked over to her vanity, removing (most) of her clown items and going back to her basic look. She couldn't help but notice the sounds coming from Luna's laptop, and she walked over to take a peek.

"Oh, what's this? Getting into video games, are we?"

"It's actually pretty fun, dude." Luna responded. "I'm playing with Lincoln. He's that purple elf dude over there buying stuff."

"Sheesh, with those ears it's pretty easy to see the _point_." Luan chuckled at her bad pun. "But anyway, what kind of game is it?"

"It's a fantasy game. It's all online, so there's like, thousands of other people all playing it, and they're all in the game together."

"Thousands? Wow, that's a lot of people... You think they're the kind of folks who'd appreciate my humor?"

"Dunno, I haven't really met any of them, but there's a lot of people... Wait, why do you ask?"

Luan shrugged. "I'm always looking for new audiences to try out. Maybe I could try the folks in this game. It's a fantasy game, so I'm sure it would be _fantastic._ "

"Well, why not get it? Me or Linc can help you learn how to play, and then you can go tell jokes all over."

"Hmm..."

Luan walked over to her vanity and pulled out her laptop. She'd have to look into this. And to be honest, she also liked the idea of doing something together with Luna and Lincoln.

"Since sometimes they don't like my humor, it'd be nice to have another thing I can do with them." she thought.

Meanwhile, back in the game world, Barelor had just finished buying up some ammo. The rewards for killing those gnolls were more than enough to buy a few hundred.

"You ready to go, Luna?" Lincoln said.

"I've been ready, bro. Oh, and I told Luan about the game, too. She might get it!"

"Really? Cool!" Lincoln said happily. He was surprised at how many of his sisters seem interested in the game.

Barelor and Arwena went back to the NPC that gave the quest earlier.

 _"It was nice of you to take care of those gnolls for us, however there is one more favor I must ask of you, heroes."_

 _"The gnolls in this area were led by a particularly large and viscious gnoll named Fipper Darkhog. He's a scary fighter, but even scarier is that he's somehow learned to use dark magic. Please, if you can, take him out for us. That should end most of our issues for a good long while."_

"Fipper Darkhog? That's a cheesy name." Lincoln said.

"Yeah, it sounds like some D-list metal band or something." Luna replied with a chuckle. "Let's kill him!"

Barelor and Arwena went off into the forest. A lonely gnoll tried to ambush them, but he went down easily.

Eventually, they came across a large tent with a bonfire in front of it. Skeletons littered the area, gnoll and elf alike. Sitting in the tent was a large gnoll wearing black armor and holding a staff topped with a skull. Lincoln didn't even have to look at the name to recognize him as the first boss he would be fighting.

"Ready to rock, Luna?" he said as Barelor drew his bow.

Arwena pulled out her lute and strummed it. "You never have to ask me that question, dude."

As the duo and the tiger approached, Fipper walked out of the tent and looked at them.

 _"Stupid knife-ears!"_ the rough, scratchy voice yelled. _"Gnolls is better! We take forest! We take Oakshire! Then we go all way to Freewind, take over world! Fipper new magic strong, you no stop us!"_

 _"Me, Fipper, knock you down!"_

With that, a much more dramatic version of the normal battle music started. Fipper began to cast a spell. Two of the skeletons reformed and stood up, charging into battle.

"Luna, you take care of them, I'll attack the big guy!"

"On it, dude!" Luna yelled. She activated the first bard spell, Battle Aria, and began playing her lute. The skeletons running to her began to slow down and take small amounts of damage.

Meanwhile, Cliff the tiger lunged at Fipper, attacking his legs. Barelor shot at him, occasionally ordering Cliff to use his Kill Command.

Fipper had a lot more health than the gnolls so far. Even as the skeletons died, he still had well over 2/3rds of his health. He'd hit Cliff with his staff, and then cast a spell called Darkbolt, hitting Barelor.

 _"This stupid! Fipper no hold back!"_ the gnoll suddenly yelled. Raising his arms dramatically, he brought all the skeletons to life. There must've been 7 or 8 of them. They all lunged at Barelor, not dealing much damage individually, but doing a lot together.

"Don't worry about a thing, I got ya!" Luna said as she began using the healing spell.

The skeletons were huring a lot, but Lincoln had read up about the game. He knew that attacking them would be a waste of time. They magic animating them will fade when the person who gave them life dies. So he continued attacking Fipper.

Fipper continued his dark magic, attacking Cliff mostly. Until one spell was a critical hit, knocking Cliff out again.

"Oh crap..." Lincoln thought.

Fipper began to charge. He barely had any health left though, maybe...

"Luna, use your attack song again! Go over to the big guy!"

"But I'm the reason you're stayin' alive, bro. I can't stop healing."

"Trust me." Lincoln said calmy.

"...Ok, dude. Go on in!" Luna said as her song changed.

Fipper was now close enough that he began casting a spell. His health was at 10%. Barelor's was now at 13%.

Barelor shot a Focus Arrow and Luna played her Battle Aria. Fipper fired a Darkbolt, and his skeletons were still attacking. Fipper's 7% to Barelor's 8% now.

4% to 3.5%

2% to 1%

"Crap crap crap" Lincoln thought. If Barelor dies, he'll lose most of his items and go down a level. He really didn't want that to happen.

Thankfully, though, Barelor fired an arrow just before a skeleton attacked. Fipper fell over, and the skeletons died.

"YES!" he yelled.

Fipper didn't die, though. He simply got up and snarled.

 _"Stupid, dumb, ugly, nasty point-ear bastard!"_ Fipper yelled.

"Wow, I didn't expect that language." Lincoln said.

"You don't wanna know what he called ME!" Luna replied.

 _"This merely setback! Fipper get stronger, Fipper come back, kill dumb people and take world! You see!"_

Fipper then faded into a shadow, vanishing.

"Aww, no free stuff?" Luna said sadly.

"Guess not. Well, let's go back to the town."

The duo went back to town. Standing in the middle was Valen, the elf from to tutorial area.

 _"Good job! I must admit, this was supposed to be your final test. We didn't anticipate that Fipper had gotten so strong, though. Still, even though he lived, I say you passed! Congratulations!"_

 _"Now that you're finished training, I'd suggest you hop on the boat to Freewind. It's the capital city of the kingdom, in the middle of the continent. The best place for heroes like yourselves to gather and find work, or even join a guild! Until we meet again, ashal'inu. Pleasant journeys!"_

"Wow, that was a lot of dialogue." Lincoln said. "Ok, you ready to go to the city, Luna?"

"Actually, dude, I should probably take a break. I got a gig to practice for, plus I haven't eaten since lunch time."

Lunch time? But they had just gotten out of-

Oh... It's 5:47. It certainly didn't feel that long. But I guess time flies...

"Ok, I should take a break, too." Lincoln said. "Wanna play tomorrow?"

"Sure thing!" Luna replied. "I'll see you... well, probably in a bit, and a few times today... You know what I mean, bye!"

Arwena vanished, signifying that Luna logged off, and the computer call ended.

* * *

 _ **I considered just skipping most of the fight, just saying "It was hard, but they eventually won", you know. But one of the highlights of the story is teamwork, so I wanted to show how Lincoln and Luna would do in a tough fight together. But as time goes on, I doubt I'll focus on anything but major things in so much detail. I won't give you 480 chapters of the Louds fighting spiders or anything like that, so don't worry.**_

 _ **Next time we go to Freewind, which is the central area of the game where most players would be when not busy. Certainly sounds like a nice place to meet new people.**_

* * *

After logging off the game, Lincoln went to his chat program. A small list of his contacts was on the list. Lincoln scrolled through them, mentally reading off names

"Baybe, Clydesdale2006, FunnyBusinessInc, HiMyNamesLeni (Leni answering when it asked "What is your username?"), MsSwagger02... Here we go!"

Lincoln clicked the one called "RASantiago"

...

...

"Hello?" A young girl's voice said as her face appeared on screen.

"Hey, Ronnie Anne! How are things in the city?" Lincoln said, waving to her.

"Eh, same as usual. What's up with you, lame-o?" she asked, but in a friendly tone.

"I was wondering if you were still interested in that game I was telling you about..."


	6. VI

_**Chapter VI: Freewind**_

* * *

 _"You are a Kha'shir. These feline-like humanoids are mystery, having just arrived in the world one day with no prior explanation or evidence of their existence. When asked where they came from, none can confirm anything, merely saying the come from "elsewhere". Regardless of their foreign oddities, the Kha'shir have proven themselves to be a valiant people, using their instinctual wisdom and cat-like agility to defend their new home and it's inhabitants."_

* * *

Arwena Fairsong stood before the gates of a massive walled city. The white and gold color scheme was almost blinding. Even from here, she could see a large castle-like structure in the center of the kingdom. The sight more than made up for the dull boat ride. Arwena's player never much cared for boats.

Beside her, however, was not her previous adventuring companion Barelor, but something new. This creature was built like a human, but was covered in brown fur, had pointed animal ears atop her head, and had a swishing striped tail sticking from out of her yellow robes.

This strange woman, taking in the sights of the game with her almost glowing green eyes, was named...

"Luan, that is still a really dumb name!" Luna Loud said to her sister.

"Aww, don't be so _catty_ , Lunie. Katga's a beautiful name!"

Katga Tyatung, the magician.

As Arwena and Katga entered the city, Luan turned to her sister, sitting next to her on the bottom bunk.

"So, when's Lincoln supposed to be joining us?"

"He said he was gonna talk to one of his friends about playing with him too, since winter break starts tomorrow."

Luan grinned. "Ooh, I bet it's Ronnie Anne! I can tell Linc's still got a thing for her."

The two girls squealed, as they often do when they discuss Lincoln's relationship with his "definitely-not-a-girlfriend".

 _ **Meanwhile, in Lincoln's room.**_

Lincoln sat on his bed, playing on his laptop. In one hand, he held a walky-talky to his head.

"You know, Clyde, we could do voice chat on the computer so we have our hands free."

"Unless I get a new computer for Christmas, mine can't really run both a game and the voice chat. Besides, this is more fun!" Clyde's voice said through the device. "So, we're meeting up in... Firewind, you said?"

Lincoln sighed. "No, no, Clyde. The city is called Freewind. It should send you there when you finish the tutorial."

"Oh, ok. And you said Ronnie Anne will be there, too?"

"She said she should be. But Bobby broke her webcam last night, so she can't chat with me." Lincoln was interrupted by a frustrated growl from Clyde. Probably cause he said the B-word. "She said she was playing a Drogan, though. They're like half-dragon people."

"Ok, then. I guess I'll meet you and her at the fountain, then. See you then, buddy!"

The line went silent.

"Alright, now to go meet up with Luna."

Lincoln logged into the game and entered the world as Barelor. Barelor went to the docks, as Valen instructed, and got on a boat to Freewind.

When the city came into view, Lincoln had the same awed reaction as Luna. Even as a life-long gamer, it could still be surprising to him how such wonderful art could be put into these fictional settings.

As Barelor walked through the gates, one of the guards, a human, saluted him.

 _"Welcome to Freewind!"_

"Oh! Neat that the guards welcome you." Lincoln thought to himself. "Even though he's an NPC, I should thank him..."

 _"Thanks."_ Barelor said, giving a thumbs up.

 _"Welcome to Freewind!"_ the guard replied.

"Does he just say that whenever you talk to him? Hmm..."

 _"I like your sword."_ Barelor said.

 _"Welcome to Freewind!"_

 _"I like swords."_

 _"Welcome to Freewind!"_

 _"I like sw_ - _"_ RING RING RING

The fun little game got interrupted by Lincoln's voice chat program.

"That must be Luna calling me. Alright."

Lincoln answered the message. Oddly, it put him into a group call.

"Hello, Luna!"

 _"Hey, bro!"_ her cheerful voice replied.

 _"Hey, what about me, Linc?"_ The user "FunnyBusinessInc" said.

Lincoln was surprised to see his sister's official business profile. "Luan? I didn't know you were in the call."

 _"Yep. Lunie helped me out, and I got the game so I could play with you guys!"_

"Wow!" Lincoln said with excitement. "She told me you were looking at it, but I didn't figure you'd get it! What kind of character are you?"

 _"Go to the fountain and check us out. My character's so cool, she's really the cat's meow. Hahaha!"_

Ok, Lincoln looked up the city and knew about the fountain, he just had to go find it. Walking into the city, Barelor examined everything as he moved. There were so many players in the area. He saw humans, elves, dwarves, ogres, goblins, and some things he couldn't even name. One goblin girl waved at him as he ran by. Considering all the signs hanging from the buildings and the people lining up to go into them, this must be a shopping district of the city.

Eventually, Barelor came to the Town Square, a ring of large buildings, shops, merchant stands, and what appeared to be restaurants. In the center was a large fountain, depicting a large woman in fairly revealing robes holding pots of water. Probably some sort of goddess from the game.

"Man, it's kinda set up like a mall." Lincoln thought. But as he directed Barelor to the fountain, he came across a familiar face, the lovely Arwena, who was playing her lute for the people. Next to her, doing some kind of Thriller-type dance was a cat person in yellow robes.

"Ka... Katga... Katga Tyatu-" Lincoln stopped as he noticed what the name was.

 _"Haha, she sure does!"_ Luan's voice chuckled from the computer. Almost simultaneously, Katga let out an animal-like cackle that almost sounded like a hyena. _"Dance with me for a moment, Linc!"_

Lincoln never tried having his character dance. Standing Barelor on the other side of Arwena, he tried a dance command. Sure enough, Barelor started doing something resembling the dance from that old Electric Slide video his mom liked.

Lincoln and the two girls laughed as they watched their characters dance. It was just somehow enjoyable to see. Eventually, even other people began to get into it. A small crowd of players formed and danced to Arwena's music. An ogre started doing some rather disturbing twerk-like moves, as he kept saying _"Upupupupup"_ in chat. There was even a dance-off between two breakdancing frog men, whom Lincoln learned were called Froggles.

As the festivities went on, Lincoln paused when he noticed a girl run by. She looked mostly human, but she had red scales on her arms, legs, and neck. She had clawed fingers and toes, horns over her long red hair, and a tail.

A drogan. And she ran right to the side of the fountain, where Lincoln had asked Ronnie Anne to wait for him.

"That must be her!" Lincoln thought. He had Barelor stop dancing and ran over to her. His two sisters didn't seem to notice, Arwena still jamming and Katga now joining the dance-off.

He stopped in front of her. He looked up to read her name.

"Helia Firetail? Well, that certainly sounds like a fire dragon-girl name."

He reached down to type into the chat.

 _"Hiya!"_ Barelor said with a wave.

There was a brief moment, before finally the girl went.

 _"Hey."_ with a wave of her own.

 _"Your character looks nice."_ Lincoln said. He would play-flirt with Ronnie from time to time, usually just to mess with her.

 _"Uhh thanks, I guess."_

As Lincoln started to type again, he saw Arwena and Katga run up.

 _"Hey dude, some guy tipped me 100 gold coins for the music! Is that a lot?"_ Luna's voice said on voice chat.

"100 gold!?" Lincoln said in shock. "I barely have a few silver! 100 gold is a lot to us right now!"

 _"Rockin'! ...Say, bro, who's this? That wouldn't happen to be Ronnie Anne, would it?"_

Luna's sly tone when she said that made Lincoln blush. "Y-yeah, it is! What, I can't play with my friend who moved away?"

 _"Of course, man. You can play with you 'friend'. Just don't get all lovey-dovey in front of your sisters."_ That was followed by kissing noises made by both Luna and Luan.

"We should probably go talk to the king. I was told he has the next quest for us." Lincoln said, quickly changing the subject.

 _"Lead the way, then!"_ Luan said.

The three began moving. Barelor then stopped, turning back to Helia. Ronnie didn't have voice chat, he remembered.

 _"Hey, we're going to the king, come on!"_ Barelor said.

Helia didn't respond, but she began walking with them.

The city was a big place. Lots of long, winding streets. However, the fact that the castle towered about 4 times higher than the next tallest building made it easy to stay on track.

Eventually, the group made a turn, and found themselves facing the immense castle. It had a moat in front of it, with a drawbridge pulled down so people could enter. A large patrol of guards walked the area, wearing bigger and more extravagant armor than the normal city guard.

They walked over the moat. At the gate, two elite guards saluted them as they passed. Lincoln was sad that they didn't speak, so he couldn't try his game from the entrance guard again. The gate opened up to a large hallway, with golden chandaliers lighting the way from the high ceiling, and a beautiful red carpet leading to the throne room.

"This castle is really fancy." Lincoln thought. "The king must be a rich old ma-Oh!"

Normally, when Lincoln thought of medieval kings, he thought of fat old men, sitting around in fancy robes, eating meat and drinking wine while they ordered their people about.

Not the king of Freewind, though.

The king of Freewind was named Balderich Winhelm. And judging by the fact that he was about 8 feet tall (if Barelor is estimated at 6 feet), wore enough fancy silver-and-gold armor to protect a whole village, and held an equally beautiful two-handed sword AND a shield, this was no useless old man. Judging by the long white hair and beard and small wrinkles, though, he was a LITTLE old.

 _"I didn't expect the king to be a total hunk... I mean, for an old guy... and a video game character..."_ Luan's voice said.

The group approached the king. As they reached his throne, the narrator's voice spoke yet again.

 _"It is customary to bow or kneel before royalty when addressing them."_

Heeding her words, Lincoln typed the command, and Barelor knelt on one knee. Arwena and Katga soon followed. Helia did so last.

 _"So, you are the brave young hero I've heard word of?"_ King Balderich said in a deep but proud voice, with an accent Lincoln didn't recognize. He wondered why he spoke in a singular way when three others were with him, but remembered that the characters talk to individuals, rather than addressing a group. _"I heard word of you defeating that accursed gnoll. Do not worry that he still lives, my men will see to it that he does not make a return._ "

 _"If you seek more adventure and glory, I may have a task for you. Orcs, disgusting creatures following their demon lord Amon'os, have been attacking the innocent people of the Golden Hills. This is a bold move on their part. If you so choose, I would have you join my men in defending the people there."_

 _"Before you leave, though, I'd suggest taking time to arm yourself, and perhaps join a guild. A guild is a good way to make allies. If you have friends already, you could even form a guild yourselves!"_

 _"Now, go on, hero! Bring honor to the kingdom of Freewind, and to yourself!"_

The characters all stood up as King Balderich finished.

 _"Golly, that guy could talk. I wish my name applied to him!"_ Luan said.

"Well, we have our next goal, though." Lincoln said. "Let's go kick some orc a-"

"GIRLS! LINCOLN! COME DOWN HERE, PLEASE!" the voice of their mother yelled from downstairs.

"Aww man!" Lincoln sighed. "Maybe later, then."

 _"Don't sweat it, dude! Either later today or tomorrow we can get it done!"_

"Ok, before we go, I'm going to send you guys requests to be my friend in the game. That way we can keep track of everyone!"

Lincoln clicked to send one to Arwena, then Katga, then Helia. All three were accepted.

 _"Got it! See you downstairs, Linc!"_ Luan said before she and Luna signed off the game and the voice chat.

Lincoln was about to sign off too, but he remembered that Ronnie Anne needed to be spoken to in-game.

 _"Sorry, have to go. I'll see you later, though."_ Barelor said.

 _"Cya"_

Lincoln then signed off.

"LINCOLN, LYNN, LISA AND LUCY, WE'RE STILL WAITING ON YOU FOUR!" Rita's voice came again.

"COMING!" Lincoln shouted back as he ran out of his room.

* * *

 _ **Bleh, I know, more game lore. But that's half the fun of making up the game world. Anyways, we have a new Loud in the group, plus Ronnie Anne.**_

 _ **If you guys wanna know a secret, though, I'll give you one. Shhhh, don't tell anybody.**_

 _ **Besides Lincoln, Luna, and Luan, there was another Loud in the game world in this chapter. Which Loud? Which character? I'm not gonna tell you that much. Along with Helia, they'll make four of Lincoln's friends and family in the game.**_

 _ **Wait... I think I forgot something... Or someone...**_

* * *

 _"You are a dwarf. Dwarves resemble humans, but are shorter and stouter, often sporting luxurious beards (even the women!). Dwarves hail from the mountains, often living in amazing mining cities carved right into them. They hold a love for treasure, particularly valuable metals, and are among the finest smiths and jewelers in the world. One should never threaten a dwarf, his family, his treasures, or his ale, though. They are fierce warriors, and will fight to their last breath."_

* * *

A dwarf in shining plate armor ran through the streets of Freewind. His black beard flying back in the wind. He rushed past all the stores and other players, racing to the fountain.

He stopped, looking around. Not really anything going on... except two dancing frogs and a twerking ogre. Ok, that's kinda disturbing.

 _"Lincoln?"_ Clyncoln McCloud asked, receiving no answer.

 _"Lincoln? Luna? Ronnie Anne?"_


	7. VII

_**Chapter VII. Lists**_

* * *

As Lincoln made his way downstairs, he encountered his sister Lisa in the hallway.

"Salutations, brother." she said, with her usual lisp.

"Hey, Lis. How come you're running late too?"

"I was busy working on a new project. I simply needed to reach a point in which I could break."

"...Oh, ok."

"And I'd assume that the reason for your tardiness is that new massively multiplayer online role-playing game you have been so enraptured by lately?"

"Massively multi-wha? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was playing that."

As they talked, Lincoln allowed her to begin going down the stairs first. Despite her intellect, she was still phsyically a 4 year old, and needed to be careful with the steps.

"It seems like a fascinating subject, the idea of many thousands of people cooperating within one video game world. I may have to research it myself one day."

Hmm... another sister showing an interest in Realm of EverCraft? The whole reason Lincoln got it was because they had no interest in games (besides Lori and fighting games). No complaints from him, though. The more the merrier!

His train of thought, however, was scrambled when he and Lisa were nearly tackled down the stairs.

"COMING THROUGH!" his older sister Lynn yelled as she bulldozed her way through them. Lincoln was barely able to grab Lisa before she fell. Thankfully, though, they were at the bottom anyway.

At the bottom, they saw a majority of the family waiting in the living room.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's begin!" Lynn Sr., the father, began.

Their mother Rita, though, was still looking around. "Wait, honey. Lucy isn't here yet."

"Yes I am."

"GAAAAAH!" the entire family yelled as Lucy seemingly appeared from nowhere behind their mother.

"W-w-well..." Rita said. "I guess that IS everyone. Go ahead, dear."

"Yes, well..." Lynn Sr. said as he regained his composure. "As you guys know, it's almost Christmas time. Your mother and I bought our gifts to you guys on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but now we'd like to collect your lists to Santa so he can get HIS gifts worked out for you guys."

Of course, the oldest Loud sisters (besides Leni) knew that this was just when their dad got his holiday bonus. But either way, they still saved a bunch of their bigger desires for this late list, unless it was something that they couldn't risk waiting too late to ask for.

Some of the siblings went back upstairs to collect their lists, and make last-minute additions they might have forgotten. Rita sat down on the couch to listen in. The twins, Lola and Lana, already had their lists on hand and walked over to hand them to their father.

"Hey, I'm giving Dad my letter first!" Lana growled at her sister.

"No, Daddy wants to see MINE first!" Lola said, returning the scowl her sister was showing.

"Girls, girls!" their father yelled, gently nudging them apart before a fight broke out. "How about I read both of your lists together? That way, you're BOTH first!"

Both of them scowled at the other for another second, before turning to their dad, smiling, and saying "Okay!" in unison.

"Alrighty, then, let's see what we've got..." Lynn Sr. said as he took a list in each hand. "A sandbox for Lana... A princess castle playset for Lola... A new sparkly dress for Lola... A new lug wrench for Lana..."

The lists continued. Tiaras and makeup on one side, pet items and overalls on the other. Typical Lola and Lana stuff. But then at the bottom...

"Hmm, it says you both want laptops?"

"Yep!" the twins said.

"Shucks, laptops can be expens-I mean, hard for elves to make... Have you tried asking Lori about one of her tablets? She's got like twelve of them she barely uses, she'd probably be willing to part with one or two."

Lana shook her head. "No, we don't want one of those, we want laptops so we can play that!" she reached up and pointed to the bottom of her list.

Lynn Sr. looked down, and noticed that the girls had another item in common.

"Realm of EverCraft? Wow, I haven't heard the name EverCraft in years..."

"Years? Lincoln said the game just came out last year!" Lola said.

"Well, this might be a new one, but EverCraft games were around since I was young. I never got into it, but my friends in college would play it a lot. It was like a big board game, almost, but they made a few video games after those came around."

"...Speaking of which, why do you two want it? It definitely doesn't sound like your kinda thing."

"Well, we watched Lincoln play it, and we thought it looked fun! I could make friends with a bunch of animals in it!" Lana said.

"Yeah, and I can kill all of my enemies, ruling over the fantasy world with an iron fist, looking down on the helpless people as they grovel at my feet!"

"Yes, bow before me! BOW TO YOUR QUE-"

Lola looked up to see the look on her father's face, a mix of confusion and fear

"I mean... I wanted to make a pretty princess and play with Linky and Luna!" Lola said with her best innocent-looking smile.

"Luna plays it, too? Hmm... Well, we'll just have to see of Santa's in the video game market!"

"Yay!" the twins yelled happily before running off.

A line had formed behind the twins, with each girl (and Lincoln) holding a list of things they wanted. Nothing unusual for a while. Luna wanted an electronic keyboard, Lori wanted an updated model for her cell phone, Lynn wanted a volleyball set, Lisa wanted some sodiochloridotoxicphate or some sort of huge chemical name. Leni...

"Cookies, milk, a slimming red coat, beard wax, some 'adorbs' new elf uniforms... Leni, what is this?"

Leni grinned at her father and held her arms in front of her. "Well, like, you told me to make a list of stuff for Santa. I figured he'd like all of that!"

Lynn Sr. wanted to face-palm, but his 2nd oldest's naive innocence was just as endearing as it could be frustrating. "No, Leni. Santa wants a list of stuff YOU want, so he can give you presents."

"Oh! Well, I want a new dress, these cute floral pumps I saw at the mall, some new sunglasses that I can, like, see through..."

Rita stepped forward. "Leni, sweetie, why don't you go write it all down and bring it back to us, alright?"

"Ok!" Leni said happily before skipping back up the stairs.

"Oh, that girl..." Lynn Sr. sighed. Ok, next should be Luc-"

"Here." her voice came from behind them.

Rita and Lynn Sr. both jumped again.

"Y-yes, ok." Lynn Sr. took Lucy's list and scanned through it.

"A new notepad for poems, the newest Edwin book, a ouija board... Huh."

At the bottom of Lucy's list, just like Lola and Lana's, was a new laptop and Realm of EverCraft.

"You too, Lucy? Wait... Don't you have a laptop already?"

"No, I just borrow Lynn's sometimes if I need to go online."

"Ah. But what's your interest in EverCraft? I never saw you as the video game type."

"I looked it up after I heard Lincoln talk about it. There's one part of the game that was heavily inspired by Bela La Ghosty, and I thought it may be worth checking out."

Sheesh, Lynnard thought. It's not too common that all of the Loud kids display interest in the same thing. But he never thought Lincoln would get them all interested in a video game, of all things.

"Well, we'll see if Santa has a copy of it for you."

"A vampire lord as old and wise as Count Claus should have no issue with that." Lucy said as she walked off.

"Yes, well... wait, what?" Lynnard said.

"Remember, honey? We told her Santa was a vampire when she asked how he was so old. And then that year all she wanted for Christmas was for him to bite her." Rita clarified.

"Oh yeah..."

After all of the other kids (sans Lily, who was too young to write a list) gave theirs to their father, and Leni corrected hers, the last one left was Lincoln.

"You know, son, you've made a bit of an impact on your sisters." Lynnard told his son as he took his list.

"What do you mean, dad?"

"I got three requests for that EverCraft game you've got. Seems they'd like to play it with you."

"Really, three? Wow... i didn't think ANY of them would want it, and now I'll be able to play with five of them." Lincoln said, trying not to smile at this discovery.

"Mmm-hmm. Well, for now let's see what you've got..."

Lynn Sr. read his son's list. It had the usual items, a new fighting game, an 'Evangelion Unit 01' figure to go with his other anime robots (The heck is that, Lynn Sr. thought. Is it some kind of religious robot?), The Halfling movies, which were prequels to King of the Rings...

That was actually the end of Lincoln's list. At least, for himself. At the bottom of the list.

"Another bus ticket for Mr. Grouse?" Lynnard asked, though he already knew what Lincoln meant.

"Yeah... I already have plenty of stuff, so I don't wanna ask for TOO much. But Mr. Grouse still has problems getting the money to go see his family, so..."

Lincoln's parents were both touched by this. Rita even felt tears coming on.

"Well, that certainly is a very thoughtful gesture, Lincoln." Lynn Sr. said as he pulled out his wallet. "But don't worry about giving up your own gifts son."

He pulled out a bus ticket. "We thought of him, too, so we got him one already."

Lincoln smiled. He could be as selfish as any other 11 year old boy, but when he cared about somebody or something, he REALLY cared.

"Thanks, mom and dad. You guys are the best!" he said as he hugged them both.

They both smiled as they returned his hug.

"Now, I got a Christmas card for him, too." Rita said. "Why don't we get your sisters to all sign it with us, and then you can come with us to go give it and the ticket to him?"

"Alright!" Lincoln said as he ran to get his sisters.

* * *

 _ **Christmas in July! Well, it's December right now for the Louds. It is the Christmas season AFTER 11 Louds a Leapin', but they're all the same age because of cartoon logic. Blame Timmy Turner and his secret wish, if you're finicky about characters aging appropriately.**_

 _ **We'll see our heroes return to Nazarroth next chapter. Hopefully poor Clyde will join the party this time. Since I forgot to state it last time, his dwarf is a paladin, a knight who wields holy power.**_

 _ **Now, let's see who Nick Fury recruits to the Avengers now. Wait, wrong epilogue...**_

* * *

"Honey, I don't know if we can do this..." Lynn Sr. said to his wife, as both were preparing for bed in their room.

"Do what?" Rita replied.

"Three of them want laptops, and fairly modern ones too, not just ones for typing or going online. They want to play that game with Lincoln, Luna, and Luan."

"I mean, I wish I could get them all EVERYTHING they want." Lynnard continued, "But as it is, we barely get through Christmas even with my yearly bonus. I don't know how we'll do it this time."

A knock on their door interrupted their thoughts. Rita went to answer it, and saw Lisa standing there.

"I'm sorry to intrude prior to bedtime, but I had overheard your conversation regarding those expensive laptop computers."

"Oh! Well, I'm sure we can figure it out, Lisa." Lynnard said.

"Actually, the reason I've come here is because I had a proposition, and I believe it will assist in your current dilemma."

Rita and Lynnard looked at each other. Lisa was a smart girl, and she wouldn't claim to be able to help them if she couldn't. Heck, she's the only reason they manage to get the bills paid.

"What did you have in mind?" Rita asked.


	8. VIII

**I've thought about whether I should shift the PoV when the cast is in-game so that it addresses their characters and the game environment, rather than the players controlling them (besides out-of-character functions like friend lists, invitations to groups, etc.). Consider this a test-run of that, I guess, and let me know if it's any good.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter VIII: Boat Ride**_

* * *

Lincoln was excited for the next day. Because of winter break, he had plenty of time to play his game. And his sisters and friends could join him at their leisure! Luna and Luan would be joining him again, and now all he had to do was message Ronnie Anne and...

Oh no, Clyde! They never met up with him yesterday!

"Ranger Lincoln to Sir Clyde!" Lincoln said into his walky-talky. "You there?"

 _"Roger! I'm here, Lincoln!"_ Clyde's voice came out almost instantly

"Clyde, I'm REALLY sorry about yesterday! We got distracted, and then mom and dad needed us, and-"

 _"It's ok, it's ok, I figured as much. Don't worry, we can play again right now if you want!"_

"I was just about to ask you! Luan, Luna and I will be online shortly, I'm just gonna ask Ronnie Anne if she's going to be getting back on."

 _"Roger roger! See you in the game!"_

After his discussion with Clyde ended, Lincoln pulled out his cell phone and went to his messenger.

"About to play the game, you in?" he typed out, and sent it to Ronnie Anne.

After a moment, his phone began playing a tune. Lincoln looked back at it.

 _"Already in. Sorry yesterday didn't work out, but we'll kick some ass today!"_

That made him happy. He'd been looking forward to playing with Ronnie online since he couldn't see her in real life that often.

But now it was time for action. Lincoln logged into his game, and sent voice calls to Luna and Lincoln.

 _"Hey, bro!"_ Luna's voice came in.

 _"Luan Loud answering the call of duty! ...Literally!"_ his other sister Luan's voice said.

"Ok, girls. This time Clyde will be with us." Lincoln said.

 _"Wicked! And what about Ronnie Anne, hmm?"_ Luna teased, causing Lincoln to blush.

"Y-yeah, of course she is! And why do you have say it like that? We're just friends!"

Of course, the light squeals coming from both Luna and Luan when he mentioned Ronnie Anne would be joining them made it clear they either didn't hear or ignored that last part.

"Anyway! We should still be together when we log in! We'll go meet Clyde by the fountain, where we said we would yesterday. Even though we're on voice chat, we should type what we want to say to everyone, since Ronnie and Clyde can't hear us."

 _"Got it!"_ the girls answered.

* * *

Barelor entered the world right outside of Freewind Castle, and looked around. Next to him, his pet tiger Cliff was laying, before he got up and began stretching.

"Well, I guess he's not the only one who had a nice _cat_ nap! Hahaha!"

Turning to the sound of that bad joke, Barelor saw Arwena and Katga, the latter laughing and the former sighing and facepalming.

"Well, I guess we'd better go to the fountain to find Clyde. But first, let me invite you guys to a group." Barelor said as Lincoln sent the invites.

The trio began walking through the city. Most of them were still enraptured by the scenery, the large buildings, stone roads, the trees along the sidewalks, the people walking by... it felt like this could be a real city.

Barelor spoke up again. "You know, I've read about those guilds that King Balderich mentioned. We could all get in one, and it would give us all kinds of benefits for working together and stuff!"

"That sounds rockin', dude!" Arwena said. "How do we do that?"

"Well, we could either join one that other people are in, or we could make our own! Making our own sounds cool, but we'd need at least six people to start it up. And right now there's just me, you two, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne."

"Hmm... speaking of which, where is she?" Katga asked. "Wasn't she joining us again?"

"Oh yeah!"

Lincoln opened up his list of friends. Sure enough, Helia Firetail was online and in the city. Lincoln invited her to the group, and she accepted. Seemed she was at the fountian already.

"Let's go meet up with her, then!" Barelor said as he and Cliff broke into a run. Arwena and Katga soon followed.

The town center of Freewind was still active, though the dance contests long since ended. As they approached the fountain, they saw a dwarf in plate armor sitting at the edge of it, running his hands through the water.

"Is that him over there? You said he was a dwarf dude, right?"

Barelor looked. "Clyncoln McCloud? That's definitely him!"

Barelor ran forward and waved to Clyncoln, who waved back.

"Hey, you remembered me this time!" the dwarf said.

"Yeah, sorry about last time..." Barelor said as Clyncoln was sent and accepted the friend and group invites.

"Yeah, thankfully finding you wasn't such a _hairy_ situation this time!" Katga said as she pointed at Clyncoln's long beard and laughed.

The dwarf sighed. "I guess the she-cat is Luan, then?"

"Yup, and that's Luna." Barelor said as he pointed to the bard doing rock poses with her lute.

"Where's Ronnie Anne?"

"Actually, we're still looking for-Oh! There she is!"

Barelor ran over to Helia, who was talking to another girl. The other left before Barelor arrived.

"Hi!" he said, waving to his friend.

"Hello again, dork." Helia replied. The rest of the group surrounded them, Arwena and Katga seeming especially interested.

"That's everybody for now. Should we head to the Golden Hills?"

Barelor's companions all answered affirmatively, and they set off. A small boat ride over the lake would take them straight there.

After a short walk to the Freewind Docks, Barelor talked to an NPC.

"Hello, adventurer!" the happy human male said. "If you're waiting for the boat to th Golden Hills, it should be here shortly."

Of course, the NPC's helpful dialogue meant a lot less by the fact that the boat was now pulling in.

One at a time, the party boarded. A couple other players got on, including an ogre who stood right in front of Arwena.

"Uhh... hey, dude." she said uncomfortably.

"Upupupupupupup." the ogre replied, turning in circles.

"What's up with this guy?"

Barelor watched the ogre. "Oh, I think I saw him yesterday..."

He went to read the name, but all he saw was 'Xlphhhtich Hmondrf'. The ogre began jumping in place, going "Upupupupupupu Pupupupupupu"

"Well, I can't pronounce his name, but I guess he likes you, Luna!"

"I don't know how I feel about him, though..." Arwena said.

"Aww, don't be so mean to the big guy." Katga said as she jumped up and down next to him. "I like him! I think I'll call him Pu!"

"Pupupupupupupu"

The group laughed as Arwena reluctantly joined in, jumping with her sister and the weird ogre. Barelor, meanwhile, noticed that Helia was standing by herself at the front of the boat, watching the water as it began moving.

"Hmm..."

Barelor walked up to the girl. Cliff didn't follow, instead running in circles around the odd jumping people.

"Hey again. Enjoying the view?"

Helia remained silent for a moment.

"Yeah. It's weird how pretty video games can be, you know? I woulda never believed it if I didn't see it myself."

"I know, right?" Barelor chuckled. "Listen, thanks for playing with us... I mean, even if we haven't really done anything yet..."

"It's no problem, dude."

"I've been kinda lonely recently... It's nice that I can hang out with people on here, and especially with you." Barelor said, reflecting Lincoln's real feelings. Helia was silent again, before responding.

"Thanks, I guess. You're alright for a nerd."

Barelor was about to type again, but he and Helia turned, to see the faces of the rest of the party, as well as that ogre, inches away, watching the conversation with anticipation.

"Excuse me! Do you guys mind?" Barelor snapped back.

"Sorry, buddy." Clyncoln responded. "We were wondering if you would invite Pu to the team. He's really weird, but we kinda like him."

"Pu? Who's Pu?" Helia asked.

"The ogre. Since his name is gibberish, they just decided to call him that."

Barelor watched as the ogre began to twerk again, going "Upupupupupup."

It was weird, yeah, but it couldn't hurt...

A group invite was sent, but it was declined.

"Sorry guys, Pu said no." Barelor said, honestly kinda bummed about it.

"Hey, there's the Golden Hills, if you guys wanna see it." Helia pointed out.

Sure enough, now in sight range were, well, some golden hills. The grass was light yellow, and swayed in the breeze. The occasional tree dotted the landscape, and every now than then there were barns and plowed fields growing crops. What stood out, however, was the town in the center that appeared to be burning in some areas.

"Well, time to play hero!" Barelor yelled out.

As the boat pulled up to the dock, everybody got off., Barelor waiting to go last. Pu, however, decided to jump off the opposite side, and begin swimming through the lake.

"...Ooook then. I'm sure we'll see him again... Let's go!"

* * *

 **Let me know if you think this differing point of view works. I like the idea of it, but I also feel that it makes it feel less like a Loud House story about a fantasy game and more of an OC fantasy world that's just inspired by Loud House characters. Pros and cons. But the best way to see if something works is to try it out.**

 **There'll be some action next time, if you're here to see virtual beings die at the Loud family's hands. Don't worry, I like when that happens, too.**


	9. IX

**Since folks seemed to like the in-game view, I'll keep it going. But I'll try to make sure not to keep it in the game world for too long at a time. It ain't a Loud House story if we don't visit the Loud House from time to time, right?**

* * *

 _ **Chapter IX. Golden Hills**_

* * *

Getting off of the ship, Barelor and company took a better look at the area. The Golden Hills were a large area of yellow fields. There was a lot of farmland around, and some wild animals wandered the area. Coyotes, vultures that, upon closer inspection, had two heads, and...

"What the heck are those?" Katga asked as she pointed one out. The creature resembled a jiggly pink sphere with two eyes and a mouth. A few of them were in the area, and they hopped around aimlessly.

"Those are slimes." Helia replied. "They're made of... well, slime. They're pretty random, most of the time they'll leave you alone, but sometimes one will attack you."

 _"Oh, that's neat... how did Ronnie Anne know that?" Luan asked over voice chat._

 _"Me and her both read up on the game. She must've read more about monsters than me, though." Lincoln's voice replied._

"Well, I'm guessing THAT will be our destination, then." Barelor said. Pointing forward at the town in the distance that seemed to have burst into flames. "Let's head out, then!"

The group walked in a plus-sign formation. Helia stood at the front, with Arwena and Katga, the two physically weakest, in the middle. Barelor and Clyncoln stood on either side of them, and Cliff the tiger stayed to the back.

They stayed on the path, which the wild animals didn't really approach. Eventually, the town came closer and closer. Unlike the huge, royal city of Freewind, this looked like just a simple peasant village. Buildings were made of wood and straw, and few adventurers or armed guards were present... and unfortunately, that all made the fires and supposed orc attacks all the worse.

"Welcome to... Barnville? Man, that's a cheesy name." Clyncoln said as he read the sign in front of them.

Barelor shrugged. "There's lot's of barns, so I guess it makes sen-"

"DIE, HUMAN-LOVERS!"

The group backed up as a group of three creatures jumped out from behind the sign. They seemed humanoid, but they were tall, muscular, green skinned, and had spiky metal armor all over.

"Those would be orcs, then!" Arwena said as everybody pulled out their weapons.

"It's an ambush! Look!" Clyncoln yelled as an orc came at them from each side as well.

Arwena started playing her battle song as the orcs got to them. Clyncoln grabbed his massive warhammer, which seemed to be glowing, and swung it into the face of the orc approaching his side, sending him back a good distance. Barelor fired at the other and prompted Cliff to pounce on it.

"HIIIIIIIII-YAH!" Helia yelled as she leaped several feet into the air, kicking all three orcs approaching from the front in the head.

"Woah!" Barelor said in surprise as Cliff took care of the orc. "That is AWESOME! ...Wait, we never asked what class you are."

Helia stood in battle position, and punched another orc in the groin. "I'm a monk. I fight with my fists and with ki... like this!"

The droganess turned to another orc, and held her hands to her side, as if holding an invisible sphere. In a few seconds, energy began to form there.

"JADOKEN!" she yelled as she shot her hands forward, the energy flying free and hitting the orc with a small explosion. The orc fell over dead instantly.

 _"...I think I'm in love." Lincoln said, forgetting he was on voice chat with his sisters._

Arwena and Katga turned to Barelor with grins on their faces.

 _"W-with the game, I mean!" he yelled out, trying not to blush._

Now, there was just one orc left. He stood there, almost visibly shaken as he watched his friends die, though he managed to live through Helia's assault.

"M-ME GO TELL OTHERS! LORD CRUSHGAR HEAR ABOUT THIS, HE KILL YOU DEAD!"

He began to run, though they could tell it was from fear and not his supposed duty.

Barelor ran forward, reaching for his bow again.

 _Out of ammo._

"Oh come on, I just bought arrows!"

"Stand back, buddy." Katga's voice said as she walked forward. "I'll show you guys why I'm the _hottest_ girl here!"

The cat-girl held her arms in front of her, concentrating. Then, in a flash of light, her hands burst into flames. Almost like pitching a baseball, she swung her hands back and then forward, shooting a ball of flame that hit the orc.

"AAARGH!" he yelled, running in circle, before finally falling over dead.

"That was awesome, too!" Barelor said. Having a bow and a pet tiger was cool and all, but this magic was really great.

"Thanks! I have an ice spell too, but ironically that didn't seem like the _coolest_ option at this point." Katga laughed at herself.

After a second, she stopped, and looked around. "...Hey, why is the battle music still going?"

The others hadn't noticed, but it was still going.

"Huh, must still be an enemy somewhere..." Barelor thought.

"Hey dudes, a little help?"

Everybody turned to Arwena. The girl was still playing her battle song, but she was missing notes. It was easy to see why, considering the slime that was jumping up and down on her head.

"My tunes aren't hurting him!" she said helplessly as the slime continued it's 'assault'.

"Slimes are tough. They don't do much damage, but they resist magic and heal fast if you don't hit them hard." Helia informed everyone.

As Barelor, Katga, and Clyncoln tried not to laugh at the sight, the latter walked forward. He grabbed the slime and put it down on the ground.

"Chuuuuuuu~" it seemed to say, as it tried to bounce back to Arwena.

Clyncoln, in the meantime, had grabbed his warhammer again and hefted it over his head.

SQUISH!

Clyncoln began lifting his hammer, but it was stuck to the pink goo underneath it. After a good pull, though, it broke free.

"Aw, that was grody! Thanks, though." Arwena said as she tried to get slime out of her hair.

"Ok, now that that's done, everybody get your loot!" Barelor said as he looted. "I got some silver coins!"

"I got some coins, and an orcish helmet!" Clyncoln said as he put on his new helmet.

"I got a rock!" Katga said, proudly showing off the rock one of the orcs was carrying.

Arwena looked through what the slime had. "Hey dudes, I got a Baby Slime. Is it still alive?"

"Oh, lucky!" Barelor said. "It must be a companion pet! If you use it, it'll follow you around."

Arwena used it, and sure enough, a little pink slime showed up and started bouncing, hearts floating from it.

 _"Aww!" Luna and Luan couldn't help saying._

 _"Ok," Luna said. "It says: 'Slimes come from a far, far range, but they can live anywhere due to their omnivorous appetite! Give your new pet a name!'"_

"Hmmm..." Arwena thought for a moment. "Ok, how about this?"

Overtop the little pink guy, the name Floyd appeared.

"That's an interesting name. Why that one?" Barelor asked.

"Just came to me. I got high hopes for the guy."

Helia walked up to them. "Well, if we're all done here, we should head up to Barnville."

As the group went back to their formation, Arwena played her healing song to make sure everyone was alright, with Floyd bouncing behind her almost like he was dancing. Thankfully, no more orc ambushes happened before they got there.

Barnville was in worse condition than it looked. Some buildings were burned down entirely, and people were desperately trying to put out flames that were still burning. There weren't any guards in sight, the line of defenders around the town merely being farmers with pitchforks and sickles. Occasionally an orc would be seen fighting one of the farmers, but they never got into the town proper.

"Oy, over here!" somebody said. Over in what seemed to be the town square, a man was waving at them.

As the group ran over to the NPC, he continued talking.

"I guess you're from Freewind? I'm Jake Saldean, though everyone just calls me Farmer. Thank you for showing up! Normally this is one of the most peaceful areas of the kingdom, but these orcs... they just came out of nowhere! They have a fortress to the south that just appeared a month ago, no way did they build it naturally so fast! I dislike asking you to go fight and kill on my behalf, but I'm afraid if somebody can't do something, the orcs will eventually take us all! Please feel free to stop by the smith if you need new gear or ammo, or need yours repaied. Tell him Farmer sent you."

As soon as he stopped talking, Helia began to walk towards the southern exit of town.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Barelor yelled out.

"Uhh, to go kill the orcs?"

"Could we stop for a few minutes, first? I need to find that guy and get some arrows."

Helia walked back, looking a little impatient.

"Ok, ok. I could use a small break, anyhow."

"That's a good idea." Arwena chimed in. "We should all take a little break, we've been sitting here for a while."

"Ok... How's 15 minutes sound?" Barelor asked.

Everyone accepted that.

"Ok, see you all then!"

* * *

Lincoln moved his character around the game world, looking for the guy who'd sell arrows, when a gurgle in his stomach made him stop.

"I guess I did need a break..." he said as he set his laptop aside and left to go to the bathroom. Walking past his two youngest sister's room, he noticed the door was cracked open and poked his head in.

"Hey, Lisa!" he said, seeing the little genius at her supercomputer thing.

"Greetings, Lincoln." she replied. As her brother continued on his way, Lisa turned her attention back to her computer. It showed an image of the Golden Hills, with a moon elf and a tiger standing in the center of town.

"Subjects show great comradery and teamwork skills, interacting as if immersed into the game world as their virtual personas. Test yielding postive results. Let us see how they handle the next stage of the game before the introduction of more subjects."


End file.
